8 VARIETIES OF NOCTTLffi 



anticaa supra obscure cinereae strigis undatis nigris. In medio maculaa 

 duae magnse fuscaa. Posticas albidas puncto central! fusco " ('Mantissa,' 

 p. 173, No. 251). Besides the type, we find in Britain three very dis- 

 tinct forms. One, white with the central area of the wing clear, 

 except an ashy shade around the orbicular and another near the apex ; 

 a second is very dark ; the third is much suffused with bright orange 

 scales. There are, of course, intermediate forms, but the extremes are 

 very characteristic. 



a. var. flavescens, mihi. In this variety the whole of the anterior 

 wings are strongly suffused with ochreous or orange-coloured scales. 

 I have taken a long series of this very pretty form at Deal, where, on 

 some walls it is almost as common as the type. The walls are covered 

 with orange-coloured lichens, and there seems little doubt that in this 

 case the orange-colour of the variety is protective. This is, probably, 

 the variety mentioned by Mr. Gregson, as occurring " at Warmton, 

 where all are more or less tinged with ochreous " (' Entom.' iv., p. 50). 



/3. var. sujfusa, mihi. The grey reticulation and marbling, 

 which are pale in the type, are in this form very dark bluish black, 

 and suffuse the whole of the wing, absorbing all the usual markings ; 

 the discoidal spots are, however, very dark. The hind wings have the 

 space between the two black parallel lines very much obscured, so as 

 to form a broad dark band ; the veins of the hind wings very dark. I 

 have a fine series of this form from Strood and Deal. The few 

 Yorkshire and Lancashire specimens I have of perla, are all of this 

 form. There is no doubt that this form is Guenee's var. A., ' Noctuelles ' 

 vol. v., p. 28. 



y. var. distincta, mihi. The ground colour is white, and the dis- 

 coidal spots dark grey. A grey shade directly under the orbicular, 

 four short dark dashes near the centre of the costa, a short basal 

 streak and a grey shade on the costa near the tip of the wing, are the 

 only markings. The form is almost entirely without the grey marbling 

 of the type. I have several specimens in my own series, from Strood 

 and Deal and have occasionally seen a specimen in other collections, 

 but the form is by no means common. 



Bryophila, Tr., algce, Fab, 



This doubtfully British species is not uncommon on the Continent 

 of Europe. It is very variable, and appears to pass through different 

 local phases of variation, according to the character of the lichens on 

 which the larva feeds and the imago rests, in much the same way as 

 muralis and perla do here. The description of the type is as 

 follows : " Noctua cristata alis deflexis : anticis f uscis ; fasciis duabus 

 viridibus." " Caput et thorax cinereo fusca. Alae anticae fuscaa 

 fascia lata, viridi bascos et alia obsoletiore, repanda apicis. Posticae, 

 subtus puncto centrali, nigro " (' Entomologia Systematica, &c.,' p. 104:, 

 No. 313). The type, it will be noticed, has two distinct fasciae, and 

 thus agrees with the spoliatricula of Treitschke. The following 

 varieties are found on the Continent : 



a. var. degener, Esper. This variety is thus described by 

 Staudinger : "Al. ant. fere unicoloribus viridibus " (' Catalog,' p. 



